Encyclopedia
AI receptionist
What an AI receptionist is, what it does on incoming calls, and when it fits a business.
AI receptionist is an AI phone agent that answers a business's incoming calls, greets callers, answers their questions and books or routes on their behalf, in place of or alongside a human receptionist.
What an AI receptionist does
- Answers every call, day and night, without callers waiting in a queue.
- Answers questions from the business's knowledge, such as opening hours or services.
- Books or reschedules appointments when connected to a calendar.
- Takes a message or callback request and transfers to a person when needed.
How it works
An AI receptionist is an inbound use of an AI phone agent: it runs a real-time loop of speech-to-text, a language model and text-to-speech, so a caller can talk to it as they would to a person. It answers from the business's own knowledge and can act in connected systems.
When it fits
It suits businesses that miss calls outside office hours, small teams without a dedicated receptionist, and any line that gets more calls than people can pick up. It handles the routine calls and passes the rest to a person.
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